Silver Linings
by Fizzin Whizbee
Summary: With her parents divorce and sudden death, her sister running off and getting married, and her best friend falling for some guy and leaving her in the dust, Lily just can't seem to believe love is real. But will the right guy be able to change her mind?
1. Introduction to Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. Nor anything else you may recognize. The great J.K. Rowling does! Plus, if I did, would I really be sitting here in this tiny little house instead of a nice big mansion?

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**Silver Linings**

**:Chapter One:**

In the middle of the night, I awoke to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. All right, so it wasn't thunder as I soon found out. It was my parents fighting downstairs. It wasn't the middle of the night either; it was early morning, but it was still sort of dark out.

There's not very much of a difference between my parents fighting and a thunderstorm, though. There's always the sound of a dish breaking, hence the resemblance to thunder, or my mother, hosing my father down with the sink hose, hence the resemblance to rain. Really, when she's mad, she does that. And just like a storm is not uncommon, fighting between my parents isn't uncommon either.

Let me start at the beginning. My name is Lily Evans. I have no middle name, which just goes to show how imaginative people my parents really are. Just nine letters. How unique is that?

I have one mother, one father, one sister, and one grandmother. Everyone else in my family is dead. What a joyous life.

I guess when I said I wasn't unique is not entirely true. Let's just say I'm an entirely ordinary witch. Yes, you read that correctly; _witch_. The only witch in my family. In fact, today is the day I leave for my seventh and final year at my school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And I'll be leaving for my true home in about five hours.

I like Hogwarts much better than I like it here. Not that I don't like my family, they're all right. They just don't understand me. Or pay much attention to me either. But that's entirely different at Hogwarts. People actually talk to me. I may even go as far to say I'm popular. And even better, I was made Head Girl. I can't wait to see who was made Head Boy, and see who I'll be working with the whole year. I hope it's not some stupid Slytherin. The majority of them really don't seem to like me.

As I was saying, the shouts of my parents woke me up, and I knew right then I was not going to be able to fall back asleep. So I got up, pulled on some clothes, and made my way downstairs.

My sister, Petunia, had also seemed to be woken by our parent's bickering. I smiled cheerfully at her as we made our way down the steps. "Good morning, Petunia!" I said grinning like a lunatic. Petunia scoffed at me and looked the other way. Well you can't say I didn't try.

Let me explain a bit; my sister doesn't like me much. All right, let me rephrase that, she HATES me. Ever since I got my Hogwarts acceptance letter, _she_ has never accepted me. We used to be great friends, Petunia and me, but that has totally changed. To Petunia, I am a freak, and so is my school, and all my friends. I don't know what her problem is. I doubt she's jealous, like my mother would probably say if she still talked to me. Mostly, my mother's been feuding with Dad, so she's always in a bad mood when I see her. It's basically the same with my father. Have I already said what a joyous life I have?

As I sat myself down at the breakfast table, neither of my parents looked up. At least they had stopped fighting. They were each reading a different section of the newspaper at opposite ends of the table.

Once again, I tried to be cheerful. "Morning Mum, Dad!" I said with my big grin. My father looked up from his newspaper but only nodded. My mother smiled and greeted me, but she kept her eyes glued to the article she was reading.

I guess I can't really blame them. My father goes to work all day, everyday, and comes home to fights. My mother does her homemaking duties each day, and then gets into some fight with my father. Their fights are stupid and insignificant. They just don't seem to like each other much anymore, I'm guessing. Actually, come to think of it, I can blame them. I'm their daughter for Merlin's sake!

It was scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. I trotted over to the frying pan to get it, and tried not to get the piece of toast that was burnt the most. My family ate in silence. Sometimes I can't believe how boring we are. Do they even know I'm going back to school today? I decided to break the silence and see.

"Today is the day I go back to school." I said cautiously. "My last year, you know." My mother looked up from her paper with a fake grin plastered on her face. "Oh honey, that's great! I'll take you when you need to go."

That was more or less the start of my parents' next fight. They always loved to outdo each other.

"That _is_ great, Lily dear. Of course, _I'll_ take you to King's Cross." My father said evenly.

"Jarod, I am taking Lily to the train station." My mother cooed in a sickly sugary voice.

"Really Crys, that's not necessary." My father said just as disgustingly back.

Can you imagine how a simple conversation like that could turn into a brawl of who was going to take me to King's Cross, which basically meant they were fighting for my fondness. Yeah, right, like I'm fond of them.

Petunia was sitting on the couch engrossed in the television set. She hadn't had breakfast. She was trying to lose weight. Really, if she lost any more weight, when she turned sideways she'd be invisible.

Right then, I did not want to intrude on Petunia, even though I was pretty sure she was sitting on my Transfiguration book. I sneakily crept upstairs, away from my feuding parents and cranky sister to finish the little packing I had left.

My room had been hit my Hurricane Lily, and sadly, probably was never going to be fit to walk in again. I loved my room in all its mess. My parents hated it. My sister couldn't care less, but I figure I live better in unorganization.

There _was_ one corner of my room that was a bit tidy, where my school trunk was. I had tried to pack neatly, so I wouldn't forget anything. I picked up a dark crimson scarf off the floor and tossed it into my open mahogany trunk. I actually thought my trunk was quite pretty, with my initials engraved in gold on the front. I had taken good care of it. There wasn't a scratch in sight on the shiny wood.

My trunk was pretty full so far. As I glanced around my room, I was fully sure I was finished packing. I had only needed an excuse to get away from the cold, unwelcoming bunch downstairs.

I glanced up at the clock hung on my bright green wall, happily noting I had only three more hours to go until I left this place forever.

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**(A/N:** This is my first fic ever, so I hope you like it! I have a lot of plans for this story, so please hit that button down there and review to motivate me! Thank ya! D


	2. Getting Out of There

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. Nor anything else you may recognize. The great J.K. Rowling does! Plus, if I did, would I really be sitting here in this tiny little house instead of a nice big mansion?

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**Silver Linings**

**:Chapter Two:**

Have you ever noticed that when you want something, really, really bad, time seems to stand still as you wait for it to come? I mean, since when has it taken so long for my family to leave the house? Usually, they're always late for everything.

I really, really want to leave for the train station. The sooner we leave, the faster we get there, right? You have never lived at my house. You have no idea how much I hate it here. You have no idea how much I want to get out of here, and get back to Hogwarts, back to my friends and studies. Back to my LIFE! Because there is no life at this place.

For the past couple of hours, I've been thumbing through my History of Magic book. It truly is a fascinating subject, but the book is an incredible Bore.

With a capital B.

I tossed the dreadful, droll, dull, doltish, dumb (and every other D word I can think of) book back into my trunk, where it belonged. I was now ready to leave for Hogwarts. But sadly, I don't think my parents are.

You see, I had _been_ ready for quite some time. It just hadn't been the right time to leave. I looked up at the clock on my wall again for about the twentieth time. There was only thirty minutes left until we left! Maybe I could somehow force my parents to leave now! I could tell them there's an accident, and traffic is backed up, so we should better get out of here! I could threaten to jinx them; I was legally qualified to perform Magic now. It's too bad my parents never got around to driving me to the Ministry of Magic headquarters to get my Apparation license. Then I wouldn't have had to make them drive me. I could have popped out of nowhere on my own.

I got up off my bed and made my way downstairs, where my parents were. I still have no idea who's going to take me. Maybe I'll make them both take me. We really need some family bondage, if you know what I mean.

My mom was sitting at her desk in the corner of the living room, writing something. It's probably a letter to her mom, my grandmother. She does that a lot lately, write to her I mean. She's all dressed up in her red jacket and pink skirt. When I said she was just a homemaker, I was lying. She also sells make-up on the side. She was totally made up in the stuff today, and her red hair looked silky, and very pretty. My mom may not be my favorite person in the world for all the time she ignores me, but at least she was trying to look nice for me, for our trip to King's Cross. I could tell she was the one that was going to take me, as my dad was currently loafing on the coach, watching soccer.

"Are you ready to go Mom?" I asked hopefully.

She jumped a little, surprised. "Of course Honey! We can go now." She said standing up and turning to me. She looked a bit flustered now that I got a good view of her, but still quite pretty. She cautiously looked at my father, who didn't notice, because he was too busy cheering on Denmark, who had just scored against Switzerland. I guess he no longer cared who took me to London.

My mother picked up her letter and placed it into an envelope, licking it sealed and placing a stamp on it quickly. She hadn't labeled who it was going to yet.

She smiled at me as she placed it in her purse. "Okay Hun, say bye to your Dad and Petunia and we're gone!" She said enthusiastically. Did I _have_ to?

She was looking at me expectantly. _Okay_, if you _insist._

I climbed the stairs one again to find Petunia in her room. She was chatting on the phone, probably to her best friend Yvonne.

"Um, Petunia, I just came to say bye, I'm leaving for school..."

Petunia frowned at me. "Bye..."she mumbled. "Oh it's just Lily, Yivvy." She added to her friend, ignoring me again.

Yivvy?

I heard giggling on the other line as I exited the room. No matter how much bonding I did with her, we were never going to like each other, ever.

It's sad in a way, but then I think, _Hello, this is _Petunia_ we're talking about._

And I feel perfectly fine.

Trudging down the stairs, I hugged my dad good-bye, though I'm not sure he noticed, as Denmark once again scored a goal. (**A/N: Go Denmark!)**

My mom smiled and pulled me out the door. I smiled too. It was going to be a long time, if ever, before I saw this place again.

It took us only about an hour to get there. My mom didn't chat with me much; she basically gave up when it took me a few minutes to answer her questions. The reason's because I was day dreaming. I was dreaming about who the new head boy was, who was going to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (the one before resigned, he had other unknown business to confer with), and what other changes had been made in the Wizarding world while I was gone for two and a half months. It was an hour drive that felt like five minutes.

I was so glad when we reached King's Cross. I wondered if my best friend, Alice Device, had changed a lot. Surprisingly, she hadn't written. In fact, I hadn't gotten any mail, besides my Hogwarts letter, which contained my badge.

I had to add that, you know it.

Anyway, I got a trolley and let the man in the funny suit put my trunk on it for me. It was way too heavy for someone like me. I'm not very strong, you see. I waved my mother good-bye as she drove off, looking particularly glad to get rid of me. Not that I care, or anything.

The station was actually quite crowded today, which was good for me, as I didn't want to be noticed running into a large, solid brick wall, and bad for my owl, he was going to get all these weird stares, the poor thing.

The large clock hanging over head told me it was 10:45. Hey it was good thing we left early, or I _would _have been late, and missed the train.

I waited until most people in front of platform nine and ten departed, and I ran straight into that brick wall, realizing at the last moment this was my last time to do this. It made me sort of sad, until I saw the world behind it, fumbling with their robes and owls, and chatting rather loudly.

I love chaos. This was chaos.

I could hear the chorus of good byes form sad parents as I got a bearded man to load my trunk up. And finally, what I was waiting for finally came.

"LILY!" someone shrieked louder than I had ever heard anyone shriek. I was engulfed in a hug that was choking me, and I was sure I would suffocate, before Alice let go of me grinning madly.

"I missed you." She said happily. "Isn't it great to be back in the Magical world, since you had to be in the Muggle world for the summer?

Oh yeah Alice, you bet it was.

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**(A/N: **I seriously didn't like this chapter. It bored me. I _really_ hope it didn't bore you! It took me a while to update, but I had a lot of schoolwork this week. I LOVE MY WONDERFUL REVIEWERS! You get cookies!

book lover990- My first reviewer! Thank you. Grins for you!

stephxd- My second reviewer! You're awesome! Yay. Grins for you!

See the S? I got TWO! Yayness. Oh, guess who put secrets in this chapter? Who knows how to read between the lines?

Please review, even if it's a flame, just tell me what you think!)


	3. Of Pumpkin Pasties and Snogging

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. Nor anything else you may recognize. The great J.K. Rowling does! Plus, if I did, would I really be sitting here in this tiny little house instead of a nice big mansion?

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**Silver Linings**

**:Chapter Three:**

Alice Device has been my best friend since first year, when we met on the train. I'll never forget how we met, even if it was a tad embarrassing.

I had only learned about Magic and Wizards two months before, so I was a bit scared. In other words, I was freaked out of my mind.

The Ministry of Magic had kindly sent someone to help me buy all my school things, and learn as much as I could about the Magical world before the big day came. They did that for all Muggle-borns. At least I had Mrs. Crabill, my mentor's, helpful words echoing in my head that day, or I don't think I could have managed without running out of there and back into my mother's arms.

"_Just run straight through platforms nine and ten, you'll be fine, don't worry, because on the other side is Hogwarts!" _She had said to me reassuringly.

"_Smile a lot, and you'll have dozens of friends in no time!" _ She tried to tell me encouragingly.

But I hadn't smiled at all. I cried, and practically wailed when I got on that train. I was going to have no friends and get horrible marks in all my classes, I knew it. My life was ending. And then Alice found me, curled up all alone in an empty compartment, crying my eyes out.

"_It's okay...everything will be all right."_ She had told me in a soothing voice. _ "No one is going to mess with my best friend."_

Looking back, she must have been as freaked out as I was. But she still comforted me. Alice Device had called me her best friend. And we've been best friends ever since.

Now, six years later, we sit in that very same compartment in silence, something not very common for us. Both of us were gazing out the window, watching all the people scampering around like puppies that had lost their mothers.

As always, I broke the silence. "Do you know who the Head Boy is, Alice?"

Alice glanced at me shaking her head. "No, why would it matter to you?"

I stared at her puzzled before I realized she didn't know of my wonderful accomplishment. I proudly pointed to the shiny badge pinned to my chest.

"Lily! You're Head Girl, fantastic! Not that it's a surprise or anything... now I'll never get in trouble again!"

I grinned. "Yeah, but I have to go to the Prefect's compartment now..."

Alice's smile faltered. "Oh dang I forgot about that. Now I have to spend the whole train ride without you, again."

I shrugged as the conductor blew the whistle. "It's not the _whole_ train ride you know. I'll be back in probably in hour."

Alice nodded as I started out the door. Before I even walked three feet, three boys were standing in front of me.

"Is that an empty compartment? We can't find _any_ on this blasted train!" said Sirius Black, a boy in my year and house. Standing behind him were two of his best friends, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

"No, actually Alice is in there-"I had started to say, but I was cut off by Black.

"Oh, that's okay then. Toodles Evans." He said sauntering in the compartment behind me. Remus and Peter followed him in. Remus gave me small wave, and Peter grinned.

I continued walking down the train until I reached the compartments marked PREFECTS. But, there was one marked HEADS, so I went in that one confused. I didn't remember a separate compartment last year! Oh well, that was cool.

Lounging inside, eating a Pumpkin Pasty, was the last person I'd ever expect to be sitting in the Head's compartment, with a Head Boy badge pinned on his sweater. James Potter.

I almost laughed out loud at that. Before I continue, let me explain a few things. James Potter and his three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, are the school's worst troublemakers. They're rarely seen without another by their side. They have the strongest friendship I've ever seen, and most of it is exercised in the art of pranks and jokes. Life is one big party in the eyes of their little gang. Some would say they all act quite immature, even Remus, who was a prefect. They even have these weird secret nicknames. I think James is Pong or something, and I'm sure Peter is Wormtail. I don't know the other's names. Anyway, you can see how shocked I was to see James sitting in that spot.

"Hey, Evans" James said casually. "I expected it'd be you."

"I didn't expect it to be you." I said on the verge of laughing.

"Tell me about it." He said patting the seat next to him for me to sit down. I did. "When I got my letter, my mother thought Dumbledore had gone nuts." He continued, smiling. "I thought for sure it'd be Remus."

"Well, congratulations anyway." I said smiling. "How come we get our own compartment?" I asked vaguely. "I don't remember the Heads getting a separate one last year."

"They didn't." said James, running a hand through his already messy black hair. "I just thought we deserved it." He said with a glint in his eye.

"You?! What a responsible Head Boy you are!" I said amused.

"Ah, well, I try." He said smirking. "All it took was a sign that said HEADS hanging on the door. I bet I could get one that said FLYING PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS and be able to reserve another empty one."

"Clever." I noted. "But just how are we going to give the prefects guidance, eh?"

"If they want guidance, they can come in here and get it." He retorted. "Can't you hear the racket they're making? Believe me, they don't need us."

"Okay" That sounded reasonable enough. "So what do we do then?"

"Eat pasties." Replied James as he handed me one. Yum.

"Thanks." I said taking a bite. "But really, what do we do?"

"I though you were a prefect." He said grinning as he took a sheet of parchment out of his pocket.

"We are to patrol the halls." He stated reading from it. "Actually the prefects are, but we can do it fine."

"What are you reading from?" I asked, curious.

"It's the letter we got, Lily. Did you not read it?" James asked smirking again.

I remembered opening the letter reading the first line and shrieking with joy. I just tossed the letter aside after that. Oops.

"Not really...I just read the first line..." I said tentatively.

"Oh. Typical Evans." said James, rolling his eyes.

I ignored that. "Well, let's get to patrolling then. And we can check up on the prefects, too."

Once again, James rolled his eyes.

"Hey, if you weren't up for the job, you shouldn't have asked for it." I said in a scolding voice.

"I _didn't._ It just _came._"

I glared at him.

"Fine." He said reluctantly getting up and walking out the door. I followed.

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Patrolling was boring. At least we could talk. I asked James how his summer was. He got into this long story about how he and Sirius went out into the Muggle city to see how it was like. I think he exaggerated just a bit when he said he was threatened with death by a Girl Scout wanting him to buy cookies. I told him I cut the hedges, and one of them looked like a monkey if you squinted your eyes a certain way.

When we passed Alice's compartment, I peeked inside to see who was in there. Just Sirius, Remus, Peter, and her.

"I thought Remus was a prefect. How come he's not in their compartment?" I asked, confused.

"He is. Maybe he just isn't too fond of mobs." James said with a smirk.

I hate it when he smirks.

"Mobs?"

"Mobs."

We went to see the prefect mob, and it wasn't _that_ bad. The compartment was filled with empty candy rabbits, and uneaten Chocolate Frogs crawling around. By the looks of it, the prefects inside had gone insane, playing some sort of tag where everybody was it. Dumbledore was nuts I guess.

James and I decided we better break it all up, since we have the power to do so.

As soon as we walked in, the chaos stopped. Oh look, the little prefects are such innocent angels. "WHAT have you been doing?" I asked trying to use a stern voice.

"I don't know. What have _you_ been doing? Were you and the Head Boy snogging? I think you've been snogging, because you're face is all red, and that's what happens after you snog." said a blond haired Sixth Year.

How rude. My face was red because he was _insinuating_ I was snogging, not becauseI _was_ snogging.

"Shut up." Those were the only two words I knew how to say at the moment. I think my face was getting warmer.

The blond boy was about to say something else, but nothing came out. None of the other prefects could talk either. I looked at James. He just smirked and blew on his wand like in the movies, when the bad guy blows on his gun after he just used it.

It became much quieter after that. We told the prefects exactly what they had to do, and how responsible they had to be now that they were prefects. Then we left to go back to Alice's compartment, but of course I performed the counter charm to let them speak again, much to James's dismay.

In no time flat, we reached Hogwarts, and I was finally home.

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**(A/N: **Wow, it only took me a day to update! That was pretty speedy wasn't it? ) Thanks Stephxd again! Did this one have a point? I tried to make it have a point, lol. Last chapter was just another look into Lily Darling's life, and if you read in between the lines, I put in hints of what will happen, cuz you know, only I know what will happen. This story is a tad AU cuz it's not love/hate. It'll be more along the lines of love/just like. You get my drift? Heh. Maybe the next updation will be just as speedy. Oh, and Alice's last name, came from the Harry Potter Lexicon. Brilliant site. ï Please review, and I'll love you for it!


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